Prior art workers have devised numerous types of blind rivet setting tools. Such tools are normally manually actuated, pneumatically actuated or hydraulically actuated.
Most such rivet setting tools are of the type wherein loose rivets are hand-inserted into the pulling tool, one-by-one. On assembly lines, such feeding is slow, awkward and leads to dropped rivets which must be picked up.
Prior art workers have also devised automatic, pneumatic rivet setting tools provided with a magazine and utilizing a strip of rivets. It is to this type of rivet setting tool that the present invention is directed. Examples of such rivet setting tools are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,783; 3,974,913; 4,131,009 and 4,178,669. While these devices perform well, they are generally slow in operation and complex in construction.
The present invention provides a pneumatic rivet setting tool of simple construction, characterized by cycle-through operation utilizing pneumatic logic. Once the trigger is actuated, the tool will complete a cycle regardless of the position of the trigger. Another cycle cannot be started unless the trigger is first released. While the tool can be used as a single-shot, muzzle-fed tool, it is provided with a magazine for the receipt of strips of rivets and an automatic rivet feed mechanism. Finally, the tool is provided with a collection means for the rivet mandrels after they are pulled and broken.